So, you wanna be a filmmaker, eh? Find out what it's really like to live the life of a fiercely independent filmmaker from award-winning filmmaker and Filmmakers Alliance founder, Jacques Thelemaque. A regular catalogue of anecdotes, insights, nightmares, facts, fictions, tips, tricks, cautionary tales and more....

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Old Stuff: The most boring blog post EVER - Do Your Paperwork!

Sure, I can hear ya: "Paperwork?! What's this talk about paperwork? I'm a filmmaker, not a bureaucrat!" Although ignorance can sometimes be bliss, it can also wind up sticking it to you harder than a 250-pound cellmate on Viagra.

If you are shooting digitally with some actor friends, posting on your FCP, then showing the film at festivals, private screenings and family gatherings before putting it on the shelf, the idea of paperwork is probably foreign and even irrelevant to you. And if you have a big enough budget, there are A.D.s and UPMs and other such folk to shield you from the mundane drudgery of it all. But if you are doing a "professional" production - one you ultimately hope to distribute commercially - and the budget is south of half million, then you will indeed need to get your hands dirty with... *gasp!*...paperwork. As overwhelming as paperwork can seem, I would however, strongly suggest tackling it even for the $200 digital feature since you never know how any film is going to catch fire. And whatever time you save not doing paperwork will be lost 10 times over (along with money) when it comes time to deliver your film to the marketplace.

There are many, many reasons to do your paperwork, not the least of which is that most distributors (theatrical and/or home video) require E&O insurance and to get it, you need to have your paperwork in order. It will also ultimately protect you in a myriad of unforseen ways. What paperwork am I referring to? Well, I'm not an attorney nor a UPM, so the following is probably a partial list, off the top of my head, of paperwork you should at least consider addressing:

And tons more, I'm sure, but you get the idea. I especially like to do a production log, which for me, is a kind of daily diary of production. It's great as a reference, after the film is made, for production notes, interviews, DVD commentary or just plain ol' reminiscing. It can also help you if a crew member later claims something happened that didn't.

If you're working with guilds and/or getting production insurance, you need to jump on that paperwork early. There's a lot of it and some of it requires additional work on your part. Your shoot can completely fall apart if you don't have things squared away with your guilds and/or insurers prior to shooting. Also, if a location demands special wording in your insurance certificate, it may require special endorsements from the insurance carrier (not the broker) which can take several days to process. No special endorsement, no location. That can suck.

Much of the other paper work is either required for commercial release of your film and/or protects you from future legal and financial hassles. I know paperwork is a real pain in the ass, but try to think of it as a big, protective blanket over you. Of course, part of indie filmmakers is about about cutting corners, but cutting corners with paperwork creates holes in your blanket. When your film steps out into the big, bad world, you'd be amazed at how many hands reach through those holes to get at you. Am I paranoid? Probably. For good reason? Definitely.

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Wanna Know About Me? Read....

Born in Brooklyn. Moved to Colorado in 1969. Moved to Tehran, Iran in 1976. Went to Los Angeles in 1980.

After
attending both USC and UCLA in the 80's, Jacques secured a
3-picture writing deal with Imagine Entertainment.

In 1993,
Jacques co-founded Filmmakers Alliance. As
President, he built the grassroots collective into an important
independent filmmaking community and resource
organization with films screening at every major
festival in the world. He’s overseen the production
of hundreds of films (mostly shorts) and developed
a wide range of innovative and dynamic filmmaking
support programs.

In 2005,
he was named Chief Community Officer of the festival submission/filmmaker
support site, Withoutabox.com

Jacques and partner Liam Finn formed FA Productions in 2004, of which they are
Co-Presidents. Jacques has produced several feature films including "Shock
Television", ""The Dogwalker", "Within",
"Midnight Movie" and "The Revenant" and is a co-producer on
Brooklyn Reptyle’s "Audie and the Wolf". He most recently produced a
national ad spot for Coke Zero.

His
writer-director filmography includes the feature film "The Dogwalker"
(Los Angeles Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Best First
Feature - Cinequest Film Festival), as well as the shorts "My Last Day On
Earth" (Seattle International Film Festival. Ashland Independent Film
Festival), "Transaction" (Sundance Film Festival, winner of the Grand
Prix du Jury Award in the Labo Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand
International Short Film Festival), "Infidelity In Equal Parts"
(Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival), "Egg" (Mill Valley
Film Festival, Best Comedy Short - Cinequest Film Festival, Jury Award for Best
Short – Methodfest) and "Love Without Socks" (AFI International Film
Festival). Jacques has recently completed two new feature film scripts,
"Rust", and "Hurricane Jane" as well as the short script
for "RedWhite And Blue"
as one of ten filmmakers involved in the feature-length omnibus project.He's also written over a dozen short
scripts for3rd Page a new
writing/filmmaking collective he helps manage. He begins shooting his newest
feature “Connection” in early 2014.

Jacques
also self-distributed his feature film "The The Dogwalker" in 2006 as
well as worked on the distribution team for "America So Beautiful" in
2004.

Jacques
has been a juror, guest lecturer or invited speaker for many film schools, film
festivals, film organizations, workshops, and other film-related events. He
recently taught and consulted part-time at AMDA in Hollywood. He’s formerly sat
on the advisory board for The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (now the
Los Angeles Film Festival), the IFP Emerging Filmmaker Labs, The Ashland
Independent Film Festival, The Santa Monica Film Festival, The Silver Lake Film
Festival and the Downtown Film Festival.

Jacques
has also programmed screening events and has been a programming associate for
the Los Angeles Film Festival since 2011.

CineThoughts

The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesn't. - Jean-Luc GodardTo have a life as a filmmaker, you must continue to make films. Like filmmaking, being a filmmaker is a process. It demands education, experience and exposure.The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things, but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all. - John Cassavetes

Good is the enemy of great. Look beyond praise to the truth of what you're creating.

Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema. - Andrei Tarkovsky

Be a true filmmaker, a true creative being. Not a merchant. Make films from and for your soul.Some rainy winter Sunday when there's a little boredom, you should carry a gun. Not to shoot yourself, but to know exactly that you're always making a choice. - Lina Wertmuller

To tell you the truth, in my work, love is always in opposition to the elements. It creates dilemmas. It brings in suffering. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. You'll rarely find a happy ending in my work. - Krzysztof Kieslowski"I mean simply to say that I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible. I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space." - Michelangelo Antonioni

I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others…for me there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength. - Yasujiro Ozu

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Click the text link below to find out what events are going on in the world of independent film. If you know of something cool and film-related going on, please let me know at jacques@filmmakersalliance.com and I'll probably post it.